Director Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man isn’t scheduled to actually go into production for another two weeks, but that didn’t stop Marvel Studios from bringing some new footage from the movie to Hall H this morning as part of their presentation at San Diego Comic-Con. While none of the material actually featured Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas in person. Marvel was still able to deliver our first look at the movie by pairing some voice over recordings with some visual effects tests and teaser stuff that they had already shot. And it was pretty damn fantastic.
The first of the two sequences began in a laboratory where we hear – but don’t see – Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas) talking with Scott Lang (Rudd). Pym wants to take Lang under his wing and do a job for him, but Lang is extremely resistant to this idea. As the camera pans around the lab, Pym goads his young friend into taking the gig, saying that superheroes are a joke and that he should be trying to do the right thing – before asking if someone has "shrunk [Lang’s] balls." The camera then lands on an Ant-Man helmet sitting on a table. Lang reluctantly agrees, and Pym reassures him by telling him that it’s "a small job."
We then cut to a rooftop where Lang is wearing the Ant-Man suit and has shrunk down to insect size. He is clearly still very uncomfortable with the whole thing and just a bit uncoordinated, as he runs, trips and falls on his face. Pym communicates with him over a radio and tells him to work on communicating with ants as a flying one comes down from above and lands right in front of the newbie superhero. Lang attempts this, but fails – apparently his fall has damaged the translator device within the helmet. After a few frustrating moments, Pym tells him that he has run out of time and that what he needs to do is jump. Lang leaps off of the edge of the building, but as he is falling he lands on the back of an ant that is flying as part of a swarm. As they take off towards a vent, Lang proclaims, "Okay, I got this!"
Given how it was put together, it’s obviously very hard to judge Ant-Man on this footage – but it did offer up some very interesting character dynamics. Even though we don’t actually get to see him, Lang sounds like he is kind of a meek guy and maybe even a bit of a loser – which Pym clearly has no problem taking advantage of. It’s unclear at this point exactly how the two characters meet, but considering that the film has been described as being a heist movie, I wouldn’t be surprised if the storyline from the comics where Lang tries to steal the Ant-Man costume makes it to the big screen.
In addition to Paul Rudd and Michael Dogulas, Ant-Man also stars Corey Stoll and Evangeline Lilly and will be in theaters on July 17th. For more info about the plot of the movie, be sure to check out the rest of our coverage of the panel.
